S. E. Schlosser has been telling stories since she was a child, when games of "let's pretend" quickly built themselves into full-length stories. She created and maintains the Web site AmericanFolklore.net, where she shares a wealth of stories from all 50 states, some dating back to the origins of America.

Paul Hoffman illustrates books of many genres--children's titles, textbooks, short story collections, natural history volumes, and cookbooks. For the Spooky series, he employs a scratchboard technique and an active imagination.